Public parks and crimes of property: get out there and enjoy the sunshine, lock your cars, and hide your bike

Abstract

Cities promote the distribution of more and better greenspaces across their urbanized areas. These spaces are not, however, well-received in all quarters, and a particular category of greenspace, the public park, is often lamented for its relationship with crime. This has been found true of parks, but little has been done to disaggregate the impact of park types or their location within the city. This study conducts such an investigation to identify the effects of different types of parks and to identify any differences of those effects across space. After accounting for the unique socio-economic and demographic circumstances of different areas within a particular Canadian city, London, Ontario, it is found that only very few parks are connected with higher rates of property crime.

The Grass is Always Greener: Analyzing Crime Concentration and Specialization in Urban Greenspace Environs

“…In 2014, Hipp and colleagues (2014) found support for this, finding that parks can function as "social holes," reducing residents' sense of cohesiveness and attachment to their neighborhood. A recent study centered on the Canadian city of London, Ontario, produced results in line with this premise, identifying that while most park types are protective in nature and are associated with lower risks of property crime in surrounding areas, regional parks attract a large crowd of non-local residents and are found to have a positive relationship with property crimes (Eybergen & Andresen, 2022). Thus, current research on greenspaces reflects these theoretical conflicts, with some studies finding that greenspaces are not associated with crime and others finding a strong relationship (Boessen & Hipp, 2018;Breetzke et al, 2020;Eybergen & Andresen, 2022;Groff & McCord, 2011;Kimpton et al, 2017; Criminology, Criminal Justice, Law & Society -Volume 24, Issue 1 & Houser, 2017; Shepley et al, 2019;Taylor et al, 2019).…”

“…These spaces play important roles in the urban environment, providing a local meeting spot with numerous health and social benefits (Bowler et al, 2010;Mason, 2010;McCunn & Gifford, 2014;Yang et al, 2005). In some contexts, they can act as crime attractors or generators, resulting in more crime at and around these locations (Eybergen & Andresen, 2022;Groff & McCord, 2011;McCord & Houser, 2017). In other contexts, they appear to exhibit protective elements (Breetzke et al, 2020;Eybergen & Andresen, 2022).…”

“…In some contexts, they can act as crime attractors or generators, resulting in more crime at and around these locations (Eybergen & Andresen, 2022;Groff & McCord, 2011;McCord & Houser, 2017). In other contexts, they appear to exhibit protective elements (Breetzke et al, 2020;Eybergen & Andresen, 2022). Given the range of greenspace types, as well as the range of different crime types, this relationship may vary according to both location and crime type.…”

“…Category 1, parks, are further disaggregated into small parks (smaller or equal to 10 acres) and large parks (larger than 10 acres). This is done to distinguish between smaller neighborhood parks, which have been frequently examined in park- crime studies (Groff & McCord, 2011;McCord & Houser, 2017), and larger parks that may draw in visitors from further away (Eybergen & Andresen, 2022). This information was coded for all locations listed on the Portland Parks and Recreation website (N = 317).…”

“…Research reflects this uncertainty, with some studies finding these environments to be associated with higher levels of crime, and others finding the opposite (Boessen & Hipp, 2018;Breetzke et al, 2020;Groff & McCord, 2011;Kimpton et al, 2017;McCord & Houser, 2017;Taylor et al, 2019). Recognizing that the term greenspace refers to many different place types, researchers have pointed to the importance of considering the greenspace type when examining the relationship between these spaces and crime (Eybergen & Andresen, 2022;Kimpton et al, 2017;Shepley et al, 2019).…”